The Snake Syndrome
by ChandaK562
Summary: The Men in Black visit the Wild West in search of a poisonous alien but is he the only poisonous thing they have to worry about. An animated series story.
1. Default Chapter

**The Snake Syndrome**

"What have we got, Elle?" Kay asked as he and Jay approached the blonde agent. An unauthorized alien ship had made a landing the night before in a deserted town called Dead Man's Creek in the southwest the night before causing Zed to dispatch Elle to examine and retrieve the craft and Jay and Kay to find and arrest the alien.

"It looks like we're dealing with a spiny horned Denubian," Elle said as she finished examining the craft that had managed to land in the middle of the ghost town's cemetary. "Highly poisonous to humans. One scratch and...."

"I don't think I want to know what will happen," Jay muttered. "So, any sign of where this thing went?"

"No idea. Denubians are skilled burrowers. It could be anywhere." Elle said as she leaned back against a tombstone. She had no idea what was taking the containment van so long to get there.

"You go that way, I'll go this way," Kay said as he started off to the left. "Look for any signs of recent digging."

"Oh, great," Jay muttered as he started off. "I hope you thought to bring a first aid kit!" he called back to Elle.

"Don't worry. I'm fully prepared for any Denubian bites! Just be careful of where it bites you! Denubian bites tend to make things fall off!" she called with a laugh.

A few minutes later Jay had just finished searching his side of the cemetary when he heard a loud scream. "Elle!" he called as he raced back to where they had left her. He stopped in suprise when he saw Elle on the ground with a thick ropelike thing thrashing on top of her. She was struggling to protect her face with one arm while trying to get a weapon. Suddenly, a blast hit the creature and it froze.

"Elle?" Jay said as he hurried over to her. Her entire upper body seemed covered in blood. He quickly pushed the frozen creature off of her as Kay joined him. "That's one nasty alien."

"That wasn't the alien. That was a rattlesnake," Kay said.


	2. Chapter 2

"A rattlesnake?" Jay said as he stared at the frozen reptile. It had to be five or six feet long at least.

Just then Elle screamed as she opened her eyes. "Snake!"

"It's okay. Kay froze it," Jay said as he and his partner knelt by her and Kay started to inspect the damage. Jay could barely bring himself to look at it. There was so much blood, too much blood, covering her upper body and face.

"Let's get this jacket off," Kay muttered as Jay propped her up a bit so they could ease her out of the black jacket. He ripped at her sleeve, exposing swollen flesh that was already beginning to turn purple. Blood was pouring from two neat fang bites in her lower arm and the swelling was already above her elbow.

"You look funny. All yellow," Elle murmered as she stared up at them. She felt so lightheaded and sick.

"Slick, go and get the first aid kit. We have to stop that bleeding," Kay said as he pressed his hand over the fang marks to try to slow the blood loss.

"Elle, what happened?" Jay asked when he came back with the supplies a minute later. He was relieved to see that his partner had managed to slow the blood loss a bit.

"So stupid," Elle muttered. "I tripped on a rock and fell right onto the snake." She moaned in pain and shut her eyes again. It made her feel sick just to have them open.

"Elle, what do we need to give you?" Kay asked as he finished bandaging her arm and started to carefully clean some of the blood off of her face. As soon as he did that the thing he had thought he had seen before was exposed, fang marks, at least three sets.

"You're going to be okay," Jay said as he took her hand to try to reassure her. "You said you had the stuff to handle Denubian bites, right? A ordinary earth rattlesnake should be a piece of cake."

"It would be if we had the antivenin," Elle moaned. Her face felt so funny and she struggled to bring her wounded arm up to feel it. "What happened to my face?"

"It's alright," Kay said as he took her arm and lowered it to the ground again. He definately didn't want her to feel those bites. "You need to keep that arm still. Now, what did you say about the antivenin?"

"We don't have it. A Man in Black getting attacked by a rattlesnake was just an impossible situation to imagine. I think we might have a vial or two at headquarters but that's it." Elle said as the full force of the situation hit her. She was going to die.


	3. Chapter 3

"I'm going to die," Elle moaned as Kay gathered her into his arms and carried her back to the LTD. He carefully laid her in the back seat and then motioned for Jay to get in and stay next to her.

"You're not going to die," he reassured her as he got behind the wheel and pulled away. The alien could wait. "Elle, how long can you go without the antivenin?"

"Doesn't work after twenty-four hours," Elle muttered as Jay cradled her head in his lap and stroked her forehead to try to calm her. "Not that I'm going to have to worry about that. I'll be dead in an hour." She moaned in pain again as the LTD pulled onto the main highway. "Don't let the worms be in charge of the refreshments for my funeral. There will be nothing but coffee cake and mochas. Don't let them laugh at how I died either."

"You aren't going to die," Kay said as he made a decision about what to do and swung the LTD in the direction of the nearest town. "Just try to stay calm."

"Stay calm? How can I stay calm when I'm going to be a laughing stock at my own funeral?!" she moaned as she pictured the scene. "Elle, the only MiB to be done in by an ordinary snake. This isn't supposed to happen to Men in Black!"

A few minutes later, the LTD pulled up in front of a small hospital in the closest town to Dead Man's Creek. Kay just hoped that it would have the antivenin Elle needed.

Jay followed behind Kay as he gathered Elle up and carried her into the building. Somehow, he didn't think Kay realized all of the paperwork required for an emergency room visit. When Jay had been with the NYPD, one of his collegues had an infected papercut that had sent him to the emergency room. By the time he had filled out all of the paperwork, he had promised the hospital his first born child and his soul in order to get treatment, not to mention the fact that he had been stuck there for over nine hours.

"What the..." the nurse on duty said as she saw Kay come in carrying Elle.

"Department of Wildlife, Division Six," Kay said as Jay pulled his badge out and flashed it. "One of our agents got tangled up with a rattlesnake. She needs antivenin."

The mention of a rattlesnake seemed to cause everyone in the emergency room to spring into action. Within a minute, they had Elle on a stretcher and had rushed her back to a treatment room leaving Jay and Kay standing alone in the middle of the waiting room. Jay glared down at the paperwork the nurse had remembered to shove into his hands before she hurried off. Somehow they never seemed to forget about making sure every last form was filled out no matter how serious the emergency.

"I think we better call Zed and let him know what's going on," Jay muttered to his partner as he glanced through the forms. He had no idea what to put down for a name never mind insurance! Did the MiB even have insurance?


	4. 

Jay stared down at the paperwork while Kay moved off to a corner and started to contact Zed on his communicator. He didn't even know where to start on the forms. The nurse who had shoved the papers at him was back and glaring at him so he pulled out a pen and started to at least look like he was filling them out.

Age? Weight? What was he supposed to put for those? Elle would kill him if he put the wrong thing down. Didn't these people know that there were certain things you were absolutely not supposed to ask ladies, at least if you had plans to live to your next birthday. He skipped those questions for now and flipped to the next page. Definately not a better page! He stared in horror at the personal nature of the questions for a moment before jumping up and hurrying over to his partner. Kay could handle this!

"You're where?!" Zed demanded as Jay came over. The MiB head definately didn't sound happy and he hadn't even seen the paperwork yet, never mind the bill.

"Gravestown," Jay supplied as he glanced at the address on the paperwork and then frowned. "Gravestown? Kay, couldn't you have found, I don't know, a little more upbeat town?"

"Well, how is she?" Zed asked. He couldn't believe that he had sent three agents to handle a simple arrest and confiscation and something like this had happened. Sure, agents had be injured in the field before but never by something as ordinary as a snake and they had never been forced to take one to a civilian hospital before. He trusted Kay's judgement that it had been necessary but it was definately going to complicate things.

"They're working on her," Kay said as he glanced towards the treatment room. "She had one bite on her arm and another three on her face. It isn't very good."

"I have agents in route to take care of the Denubian situation. I'll dispatch a medical team as well. As soon as she's stable, I want Elle back here." Zed said.

"Better tell them to bring money and lots of it," Jay said. "These people are going to expect some sort of payment."

Just then the air in the waiting room was filled with a shrill electronic whine. Jay knew he had heard that sound before but he couldn't quiet place it.

"What's that?" Zed asked.

Suddenly, Jay realized what the sound was, a heart monitor going flatline. "Oh, no," he muttered as he frantically looked around the room but it was empty. Elle was the only patient the ER had at the moment apparently. "Oh, no!"


	5. 

"And where do you think you're going?" the nurse asked as Jay and Kay started back towards the treatment room. "Don't you have paperwork to fill out?"

Jay frowned at the mention of the paperwork. How could the nurse think about something so unimportant as that when Elle was laying back there dying or.... He couldn't even bring himself to think about the other posibilities. Kay pushed past the nurse and headed towards the treatment room with Jay right behind him.

Kay stopped just outside the treatment room and motioned for Jay to stay there as well. There was a team of doctors and nurses gathered around Elle frantically working on her. They couldn't even see the blonde agent due to the people around her. The one thing they saw too well, however was the heart monitor she was hooked to and its flatline.

"No," Jay whispered as he stared in horror at the monitor. How could this be happening? It was just a snake, an ordinary little earth snake. They had faced man eating bugs and deadly aliens before and everything had been fine. How could one ordinary snake kill her within fifteen minutes? He started to move forward but Kay put a hand on his shoulder and restrained him.

"Let the doctors do their job, Slick," Kay said as he pulled his partner back.

The two agents stood their silently, watching for what seemed like hours as the medical personel worked to revive her. "Come on, Elle," Jay whispered. He couldn't take his eyes off of that monitor and that awful line. Why wasn't she coming around? He glanced over at his partner who was standing there stone faced watching the doctors work. Jay heard a crackling noise and he caught sight of Elle's limp hand for a moment as her body jerked on the table. He had never seen skin that pale before.

The lead doctor looked up at the monitor. It was still flatline. "I'm calling it," he said. "Time of death, Two forty."


	6. Chapter 6

"It isn't fair," Jay whispered as he turned away from the room as tears started to pour down his cheeks. He wanted to hit something, anything. How could Elle be dead? They had done **everything **right! It was just an ordinary earth snake! Elle should have been alright! How could she just be laying there so still and silent? It wasn't fair! 

He felt Kay's hand on his shoulder, and he spun pushing his partner away and lashing out, hitting, at him. "We did everything right! Why's she dead?! We should have saved her!" His mind kept replaying those moments in the car when he had held Elle, trying to comfort her. She had been so afraid and now they had failed her. They had let her die. She had been counting on them and.... Jay felt sick.

Suddenly a faint beeping sound filled the air. "That couldn't be," Jay whispered as the two men moved back to the door again. Jay's jaw dropped when he saw the monitor. Instead of that awful flatline, there were a series of small peaks running steadily across the screen.

The doctor took a syringe and injected the contents into one of the IV lines. As the drug entered her bloodsteam, the peaks on the monitor became stronger. "Okay, people. We have her back. Type and cross-match for two units of blood and let's get that antivenin in now!"

"You really need to go back to the waiting room now," the nurse said as she came over and started to shoo them away from the door. Neither Jay nor Kay bothered to object. Elle was alive. That was all they cared about.


	7. Chapter 7

Jay and Kay entered the waiting room and drifted over to a seat where they could watch the doors to the treatment room.

"Her heart started beating again. That has to be a good sign? Right?" Jay asked his partner.

"Maybe," Kay muttered. What was really worrying him at the moment was what had caused Elle's heart to stop, the bites or the antivenin. If she was allergic to the antivenin, her chances of survival were poor at best.

Just then the nurse came over and glared at them. "Don't you have paperwork to be filling out?" she demanded.

"Oh, man!" Jay moaned as he glanced down at the forms. "I do not want to do this!" The questions that were on the paperwork pretty much fit into three catagories: things he didn't know or did but wasn't allowed to mention, things he didn't want to mention for fear that a wrong answer would make Elle kill him and things that he absolutely positively did not want to know about Elle.

"Here," he said as he shoved the embarrassing questions at his partner. "You take a shot at these! I'm not touching them with a ten foot pole!"

A little bit later, Jay had finished his part of the paperwork, answering such dangerous questions as age and weight with 'I refuse to answer on the grounds she'll kill me if I get it wrong!' If the doctors were so eager to find out Elle's age, they could just take their chances with waking her up and asking her and as for weight, that's what scales were for. He looked over at Kay, who had just finished his part as well by apparently putting down random numbers for the worst few questions.

"One in thirty chance I got it right. Fairly good odds," Kay said as he took the papers from Jay and walked over to the nurse.

"They just moved your friend up to ICU. You can go up now. It's on the third floor." the nurse said as she happily took the paperwork. She didn't know what had taken them so long.

"ICU?" Jay muttered as they headed for the elevator. "She's going to be alright, isn't she? I mean, it was just and ordinary little earth snake. No biggy in our line of work, right?"

"I don't know, Slick," Kay said as they stepped into the elevator. If only she wasn't allergic to the antivenin. Then maybe she would have a chance.


	8. Chapter 8

"How is she?" Kay asked as the doctor they had seen working on Elle in the Emergency Room came over to them as they enered the ICU.

"I'm afraid I don't have very good news for you. The snake that bit your friend caused severe envenomization. As you know, she suffered a cardiac arrest in the emergency room. She did survive but...."

"Is she allergic to the antivenin?" Kay asked.

"Luckily she isn't, which is about the only thing that she has going for her at the moment. The bites on her face hit vascular tissue spreading the venom rapidly, bringing on the arrest. We've begin treatment with the antivenin but I'm afraid there has been no change in her condition yet. She has severe edema from her left shoulder to her fingers as well as swelling on the right side of her face. We've ran 100 mL through the iv already and we have another 100 mL running now but so far we haven't seen any change. The venom is also causing clotting problems. We've given her four units of blood so far as well as two units of platelets. If you would like to see her, you can go in now. She's been fairly heavily sedated though and she's on a respirator, so she won't be able to respond to you though."

"Elle?" Jay whispered as they entered the room. At least the ICU offered semi-enclosed rooms instead of an open ward like Jay had seen at several hospitals in New York. He couldn't believe the size of her arm. It was swollen to an inhuman size, almost as big around as Frank the Pug. Her face was even worse, the swelling distorting her features so much that he could barely recognize her. Just then he saw the respirator tube. They had cut into her lower neck and placed the plastic tubing in through the resulting hole.

"They couldn't do anything else with all of the swelling," Kay murmered as he sat down beside Elle and put his hand over hers.

"I hope that MiB medical team gets here soon," Jay said as he settled down on Elle's other side. Surely they would be able to do something to fix this.


	9. Chapter 9

Jay and Kay looked up as the doctor came in and begin to carefully check Elle, measuring the swelling in her arm and looking at the bites shaking his head all the while.

"I'm afraid we're going to have to operate," he said as he finished checking the bites. "The edema's compromised her circulation and the tissue's dying. We're going to have to remove the dead tissue and then do a fasciotomy to prevent further damage. I'm going to need some papers signed giving us permission. If you would follow me, please."

A little while later, Jay and Kay were in the waiting room. Elle had been moved to surgery only moments before and they had no idea how long the operation might take.

"Uh, Kay, I was just wondering exactly what we signed for?" Jay asked. Well, technically Kay had been the one to sign the forms but Jay still felt terribly responsible.

"Basically what they're going to is clean out the dead tissue and then they'll cut her arm open so the swelling will have some place to go and won't put anymore pressure on her tissues." Kay explained.

Jay grimaced at his partner's discription. It didn't sound pleasant at all. At least Elle was on some heavy-duty pain killers so she wasn't going to be hurting, though. That was a tiny comfort. Suddenly, Jay though of something. "Kay, they're just doing that to her arm, right? They aren't going to touch her face, are they?"

"I don't think so," Kay murmered. The doctor had rushed him when he was signing the consent forms but he was sure he would have noticed something like that! He stood up and went over to the nurse's desk. He had a few questions to ask her.

A minute later, Kay came back with an unhappy expression. "They're operating on her face, too." he said as he sat back down.


	10. Chapter 10

Jay drifted down the hallways of the hospital. Kay had suggested that they take a walk to make the time past faster. Of course, as soon as they had left the waiting room, Kay pulled a disappearing act leaving Jay all by himself. Jay walked past the gift shop and then did a double take as he saw the display in the window. He quickly darted in and after a rather heated negotiation with the clerk who said she didn't have the authority to sell part of the display, he hurried out with his prize.

"They just moved your friend back to the room a few minutes ago. You can go in if you want," the nurse at the desk said after staring curiously for a moment at Jay's purchase.

Jay hurried to the room and pushed open the door. Kay was already there, sitting beside Elle with his hand resting over hers. Jay cringed at the sight of the bloodstained bandages on her face and arm. What had they let the doctor do to her?

"How bad is it?" Jay asked as he walked over to her bedside. Just then he noticed the flowers, at least two dozen roses in a rainbow of colors setting on a table nearby. It seemed that he wasn't the only one who had done a bit of shopping.

"Not pretty. I wouldn't look if I were you." Kay muttered. "Her arm's bad enough but her face.... They had to cut along her jaw from her temple to her chin.' Just then he noticed what Jay was holding. "What's that?"

"An MiB bear. Found it down in the gift shop." Jay said as he leaned over and carefully tucked the bear into bead next to Elle. It was brown and roughly two feet tall, dressed in a black suit and wearing a small pair of sunglasses. "I thought she might get a laugh out of it i... when she wakes up." Jay couldn't believe he had almost said if. Elle had to wake up. She had to wake up and be alright. He didn't think he could except any other outcome.


	11. Chapter 11

Jay and Kay turned when they heard a gasp from the doorway to find Zed standing there. The head of MiB rarely left headquarters and as far as Jay knew, he had nver came out this far before. What was he doing here?

"When I realized what that sound was..." Zed murmered as he hurried over to Elle's bedside. It had only taken him a moment after Kay had abrubtly cut off the communication to realize the whining noise that he had heard in the background of the call was a heart monitor flatlining. As soon as he had figured that out, he had joined the medical team that was just leaving. Needless to say, he was thrilled to find out that Elle was alive when they arrived at the hospital but now that he had seen her, he wasn't sure if that really was a good thing. "What happened?"

"They had to operate because of the swelling," Kay told him. "It had already killed some of her tissues. They had to open up her arm and face so the swelling would have somewhere to go."

"Her face," Zed murmered as he reached out to touch her undamaged cheek but then thought the better of it. He stared at the bloodstained bandages for a moment before asking, "Is she stable?"

"Definately not," Jay murmered. "They still haven't been able to neutralize all of that venom and her blood's not clotting right. It runs out almost as fast as they can get it in."

"There's absolutely now way we can move her right now," Kay said just as Elle's eyelid twitched a bit and then her left eye slowly opened a tiny bit. The swelling on the right side of her face kept that eye shut. Even though they could barely see into her half open eye, they could tell she was in terrible pain. A tear rolled down her cheek as she looked at them silently begging them to help her.


	12. Chapter 12

"Elle?" Kay whispered as he moved closer to her so that she could see him with her extremely limited vision. "It's going to be alright. Just try to relax for a few minutes." He glanced over at Jay. "Slick, go and get the doctor."

Jay hurried out and came back in a few minutes later with the doctor who after one look at Elle's painstricken expression, quickly got out a drug and injected it into the IV. Within a few moments, Elle had slipped back into unconsciousness again. The doctor then started to check her arm and face, carefully removing the bandages to expose the wounds.

A horrified expression filled Jay and Zed's face when they saw her arm, split open from her shoulder to her fingers with swollen tissue and muscle bulging through. What was even worse was her face, though. She didn't even look human anymore.

"I'm afraid we may have to operate again if the swelling in her face doesn't go down quickly," the doctor said after he finished his examination. "It looks like we didn't make the incision big enough and now the pressure from the swelling is threatening to damage her optic nerve. Also, the swelling is starting to extend into her neck and if it applies too much pressure to the jugular vein it could cause a stroke or worse."

"What can you do?" Zed asked as he stared saddly down at Elle. This entire thing seemed impossible. They dealt with deadlier things on a daily basis without any problems. How could something simple like this be about to kill her?

"Basically, we'll have to widen the incision and extend it up into her forehead and down her neck towards her back. That should divert the pressure away from the jugular and hopefully ease the pressure on her optic nerve as well."

"Do whatever you have to. Just save her," Kay murmered as he took Elle's hand and gently stroked her fingers.

"We'll give it another hour to see if the antivenin starts to work," the doctor said as he turned to leave. "Oh, if she has any family, you might want to try getting in touch with them and have them come now."


	13. Chapter 13

"How is she?" Kay asked as the doctor came into the waiting room a couple of hours later. They hadn't been able to control the swelling, forcing them to operate yet again. Even the MiB medical team, after taking a look at her, had said it was the only option.

The doctor looked at the agents and sadly shook his head.

"She...." Jay couldn't bring himself to finish the sentance. Elle couldn't be gone, not after all she had been through!

"She did survive the surgery but I'm afraid there were a few complications. The swelling pinched off the carotid artery, severely limiting the bloodflow to her brain for several minutes. If the venom hadn't caused such serious clotting problems, she would be dead or severely brain damaged now. We're going an MRI right now but it looks like she was very lucky. What I'm concerned about now is the fact that she isn't responding to the anti-venin. We've ran 400mL without any significant response."

"Isn't there anything else you can do?" Kay asked.

"Nothing at this point besides increasing the anti-venin and praying she starts to respond. I would think about calling her family now. Unless she starts reacting within the next few hours, she isn't going to live."

*******

A little while later, the three agents came into Elle's room. "What did we let them do to her?" Jay whispered as he stared in horror at Elle. It seemed that she was a mass of bandages from her forehead to her shoulder blades and then down her left arm.

"I'm going to get in touch with the medical team," Zed said. After realizing that they couldn't move Elle, he had had the medics go on to Dead Man's Creek to help out the cleanup crew. "Maybe there's something that they can do."

As Zed hurried out, Kay sat down beside Elle again and took her hand in both of his, holding on tightly as if he could force her to live through willpower alone.


	14. Chapter 14

Jay had lost track of how long they had been sitting there. It seemed like an eternity. The medical team was on their way back, not that they believed they could do anything more to help Elle. She looked like she was already gone, her skin was as pale as snow, with little red spots everywhere from bleeding under the skin. The only motion in her body was the steady rise and fall of her chest and that was from the machines breathing for her. The only sign of life, the faint beeping of the heart monitor, beeps that were much, much too slow. Jay wanted to pray but he didn't know what to ask for. He wanted her to live but he wasn't sure that she would want to in the condition she was in. Finally he settled on praying for her not to suffer, no matter what happened.

Kay carefully held her hand, silently trying to will some of his strength into her shattered body. The doctor was wrong. He knew the doctor was wrong. This wasn't her time to die. He carefully stroked her fingers, silently promising not to let her go.

Just then the doctor came in and moved to her bedside, carefully checking the machines. "I may have some good news for you," he said in a neutral tone. He didn't want to get their hopes up yet. He probably shouldn't even be telling them, but at this point he was sure they needed a little encouragement. "The last blood tests we did showed an decrease in blood clotting time and her platelet count is coming up slightly."

"She's getting better?" Jay whispered.

"It's too soon to say for sure," the doctor said carefully trying to hide his own excitement. After the second surgery, he hadn't expected this woman to survive. "She's not out of danger yet but if she keeps improving, I do think she'll make it." The doctor smiled as he gave them the news. He was always thrilled when a patient started to recover, especially when the odds had been stacked so high against them.


	15. Chapter 15

Three days. It had been three days since the doctor had first noted Elle was starting to improve. The swelling was slowly starting to go down and the red spots from the bleeding under her skin and the bruises from her blood clotting problem were starting to fade a bit. The MiB medics had finally decided that she was stable enough to move back to headquarters.

Jay looked at his partner as the medics moved about the room, detatching wires and equipment. Kay hadn't moved from Elle's side in three days, hadn't even twitched, had just sat there like a statue clinging to her hand. The only words he had spoken in that time were repeated pleas for Elle to squeeze his hand or open her eyes.

"We're ready to move her now," the head medic said as they moved to Elle's bedside and reached out to lift her from the bed onto the stretched that had brought in.

Suddenly, Kay reached out, raising a hand to stop them. "I'll carry her."

"That might not be the best...."

"I said I'll carry her," Kay repeated as he reached down, securing the blankets around Elle before gathering her up into his arms.

A car on the MiB underground transport system had been modified to serve as a temporary infirmary on the way back. Kay carried Elle to the bed they had arranged in the back and laid her down, setting on the bed behind her so her head rested comfortably in his lap. The head medic looked over at Zed.

"Can you treat her like that?" Zed asked.

"Yes," the medic said reluctantly. It would be a bit more difficult but they could treat her.

"Then let him hold her."

Elle spent the entire trip back to MiB resting safely in Kay's arms as the medics worked around her, regulating the respirator that she was attached to and occassionally switching the IV's.

"Elle?" Kay whispered in her ear when they were almost home. Three days without any sign of life besides that created by the machines. "Elle, please. I know that you can hear me. Please, just squeeze my hand. Just try. Please." A moment later, he was shocked to feel movement and he looked down to find her fingers twitching, lightly squeezing his hand.


	16. Chapter 16

As soon as they got Elle back to headquarters and had her safely settled into bed in the med lab, Zed had insisted that Kay go back to his room and get some rest. As far as he knew, Kay hadn't slept since Elle had been injured. Once in his rooms, Kay couldn't stand the idea of sleeping, though. Not with Elle laying down there in the med lab, hurt and alone. He quickly showered and changed clothes before leaving again.

A little while later, Kay came into Elle's room with his arms full of flowers, a rainbow a roses. He moved around the room setting the flowers up in various places so that Elle would be able to see something cheerful when she woke up. Jay had remembered to bring the flowers he had got her at the hospital back with them, he noticed, along with the MiB bear that was tucked securely into bed next to Elle.

He had just sat down beside her and taken her hand in his when the door opened and Zed came in.

"I thought that I told you to go to bed and get some sleep," the head of MiB said as he glanced at the door. What was holding Jay up with that gift?

"Couldn't sleep. I kept thinking about her. What have the doctors said?" Kay asked as he carefully stroked her fingers.

"She'll be fine. She just needs a lot of rest right now," Zed said just as the door came open and Jay came staggering in trying to hold onto a giant handful of helium balloons, at least twelve huge balloons in bright colors with cheerful get well messages plastered on them.

"I hope no one else in the city is sick right now," Jay chuckled as he moved around the room tying the balloons to various objects with Zed's help.

The last balloon had just been fastened when Kay suddenly felt pressure on his fingers. He looked down to find Elle had opened her good eye a tiny bit and was looking up at them.

"You're going to be fine," he reassured her, gently stroking her forehead. At least her face wasn't tormented and full of pain this time. "Just rest now. We'll take good care of you."


	17. Chapter 17

Elle had just drifted back to sleep when the doctor came in. He moved over to her bedside, checking the readings on the monitors, frowning when he noticed Kay sitting beside her clinging to her hand. That man really needed to go home and get some rest.

"How is she?" Zed asked as he watched the doctor. He had been relieved when Elle had opened her eyes, even thought it had only been for a minute. That was surely a good sign that she was going to be alright.

"She's finally starting to respond well," the doctor said as he finished examining the monitors and carefully removed the bandages to check Elle's wounds, wincing at the sight of the damage It had been necessary though. Even with all of MiB's advanced technology, they wouldn't have been able to do anything else to spare her life. "The swelling's decreasing steadily and her platelet count and blood clotting times are almost normal. If that keeps up we should be able to close the incisions within a few days."

"What about her face? You can fix that when you close it, right?" Jay asked. He didn't even want to imagine how Elle would react if she woke up and found out what had been necessary for them to give permission for to save her life.

"That may be a problem," the doctor murmured as he inspected Elle's face.

"You can't fix it?" Zed demanded.

"We can fix it but I don't think we'll be able to do any repairs right away. The swelling did destroy a significant amount of tissue in her face," the doctor explained as he finished his examination and rebandaged the wound. "I don't want to try any major repair work until she's stronger. We may need to do some skin grafting and I don't think she's strong enough to go through that yet."

"Will there be a scar?" Zed asked.

"In time, no, but for the moment...." the doctor trailed off, wondering how Elle would cope when she found out about the damage.

"Take out the mirrors. I want every mirror in MiB headquarters gone," Zed said. He wouldn't let Elle see that damage. It would be a shock that he wasn't sure she would recover from.

"That's probably a good idea," the doctor said as he walked over to Zed and leaned in to say in a low tone, "What can we do about Agent Kay? He doesn't look the best."

"Can you move a bed in here or something?" Zed murmured. "I don't think he would be willing to leave her now, even if I ordered him to."


	18. Chapter 18

Zed entered Elle's room in the infirmary stopping to frown when he saw Kay sitting beside her, holding her hand. He hadn't moved from her bedside, hadn't even twitched in the four days she had been there. They had brought in a bed for him but he wouldn't lie down, dozing instead in the chair beside her.

"Kay, why don't you go back to your room and get cleaned up, maybe get some rest," Zed said as he went over and placed a hand on the agent's shoulder. he looked down at Elle and was relieved to see how peacefully she appeared to be resting, fast asleep in a drug induced slumber.

"I don't want to leave her," Kay murmured. He needed to be beside her holding her hand and comforting her when Elle opened her eyes again.

"Kay, she's been sleeping for four days and with the medicine that they have her on, I highly doubt that she's going to wake up anytime soon. Go and get cleaned up. That's an order!" Zed sternly told him. It wasn't going to do Elle any good if Kay collapsed from exhaustion. Maybe if he could get him to his room, he could convince him to sleep for a few hours.

"Elle, I'll be back. I'll be right back," Kay murmured as he gently kissed the fingers of her good hand before standing and heading for the door with Zed following behind him.

*********

A little while later, Elle slowly stirred in the bed as her eyes blinked open. She looked around, surprised not to find Kay beside her. Even in her drug induced sleep, she could feel his hand gripping hers, reassuring her that she was going to be just fine.

She looked down at her left arm and tried to frown at the sight of the bandages. Something was wrong with her face through. It felt incredibly numb, like half of it was dead. She reached up, trying to figure out what was wrong. As he fingers touched her neck, she was startled to feel thick bandages wrapping her neck from the collarbone up. Her fingers moved higher to find more bandages, these covering most of her face from her forehead along her right cheek down to her chin. What in the world was wrong with her face?

She slowly pulled herself out of bed, detaching the monitors that she was hooked to and staggering in the direction of the bathroom pulling her IV pole along with her. A moment later she came back out. No mirror. Now what could she do?

Just then she caught sight of the reflective screen on the heart monitor. It was a poor mirror but it looked like the best she could do at the moment. She drug herself over to it and looked at her reflection for a moment, her face covered in white dressings, before reaching up with her good hand and slowly removing the bandages.

Elle's eyes filled with horror at the sight of her face. The skin was still swollen and discolored with red tissue bulging through the gaping cut in her face. It appeared that half of the skin was gone, leaving a large hole behind. She collapsed to the floor in tears, her mouth open in a silent scream.


	19. Chapter 19

Kay pushed the door to Elle's room open and quietly entered, not wanting to wake her. When he had gotten back to his rooms, Zed had insisted that he sleep for a few hours and had threatened him with sedation if he didn't comply. He had even stood beside Kay's bed, watching until he saw the agent breathing in a deep sleep pattern. Luckily Kay had known how to fake sleep well and had crept out again as soon as Zed was gone. He knew he needed the rest but he just couldn't stand to leave Elle alone for so long. There would be plenty of time for him to sleep later, when she was recovered.

Kay stopped in shock when he saw the bed was empty. He raced into the room frantically looking around for Elle, afraid something awful had happened to her. The doctors had said she was in no danger but.... He would never forgive himself if something had happened and he hadn't been there for her.

Just then he noticed the IV pole had been moved from the position it was in when he left, he slowly moved over to the far side of the bed and looked down to see Elle laying there, tears running down her face and her mouth open as she silently screamed again and again.

"Elle?" Kay whispered as he knelt beside her and reached out, gently touching her hand, not wanting to startle her. Her fingers were running over her face, repeately feeling the injury as if hoping by some miracle it would vanish. He reached down and gathered her up, pressing her hands securely against his chest as he held her.

"It's alright," he murmured, rocking her a bit to try to soothe her. Her body felt so tense, pressed against his, sob after sob shaking her back. Silent sobs but so heartbreaking in that silence. "I promise you that everything is going to be alright."


	20. Chapter 20

"Elle, everything is going to be alright," Kay whispered as he wrapped his arms around her and stood, lifting her back onto the bed again and carefully tucking her in. "I know that you're upset about your face right now but it's going to be alright, I promise you. The doctors say it can be fixed. They just need to give you some time to heal first."

Kay stared helplessly down at Elle. It was obvious that she hadn't heard a word that he had said, that she was in to deep a state of shock to hear and understand anything. He sat down on the edge of the bed and reached out, gathering her into his arms and holding her against him, rocking her a bit. Maybe that would at least give her a tiny bit of comfort. If only she would stop crying. It was breaking his heart.

Just then the door came open and Zed came in. He stopped in surprise when he caught sight of Kay. "What are you doing in here? I thought I told you to get some sleep?"

"I shouldn't have left her," Kay murmured as he rocked Elle, stroking her hair as he talked. "She woke up. She woke up and saw her face."

"What?" Zed said. He hadn't noticed Elle was awake until just then. He quickly hurried to her bedside and reached out, touching her hand. He had ordered all of the mirrors removed. How had she saw the damage? "Elle, it's going to be alright. Your face is going to heal just fine."

"Zed, go and get the doctor," Kay murmured. "I don't think she can even hear what we're saying right now."

Zed quickly hurried out of the room and came back a moment later dragging the first doctor he could find.

"Agent Elle, I understand you saw the injury to your face," he said as he approached the hysterical woman. "You need to know that the wound isn't really as bad as it looks right now. I'm sure it was very frightening for you because the incision is still open due to the swelling but we expect to close that within a few days and as soon as you're a bit stronger, we can remove the scar tissue. This isn't perminant. Within a month, you'll be as good as new!"

"Elle?" Kay murmured as he stared down at her. Tears were pouring from her eyes as she stared ahead with a blank expression. At least the silent screams had finally stopped. He looked back up at the doctor. "I don't think that she even heard you."

"She's in shock," he said as he hurried over to a counter and got out a syringe and a vial of medicine, carefully drawing a dose before going over and injecting it into the IV. "That should let her sleep for a few hours. Maybe she'll be calmer when she wakes up."


	21. Chapter 21

"Elle?" Kay whispered as he reached out, gently stroking her uninjured cheek, trying to get her to look at him, to respond in some way. It had been two days since she had learned about the damage to her face and ever since, she had just laid there, staring straight up at the ceiling, tears pouring from her eyes. He had never seen someone cry so much.

"Any change?" Zed asked as he came in followed by Jay. He had given up on making Kay go to his room to get some rest, but at least he had succeeded in making him take a few catnaps on the bed that had been moved into the room and placed right next to Elle. Zed just hoped he had got enough rest so they wouldn't have two sick agents on their hands.

"She won't even look at me, won't look at anyone," Kay murmured as he looked up at his two friends. "I'm not even sure if she knows that anyone's here with her." Kay wasn't about to budge from Elle's bedside though, not while there was a slim chance she knew he was there, knew that he was trying to lend her the support and strength she needed to recover.

"Elle?" Jay said as he came around to the other side of the bed. The teddy bear he had got Elle at the hospital had somehow fallen to the floor. he reached down and picked it up, carefully tucking it into the bed beside her again. "Don't want to loose your little friend do you?"

As the bear's soft fur brushed her skin, something happened to Elle, the expressionless mask that had covered her face changing to one of total anguish and heartbreak. "Why?" she whispered, her voice a weak croak that forced the three men to lean close to hear her. "Why did you do this to me? Why did you make me a monster? I want to die."


End file.
